The occurrence of metazoan endoparasites of Schilbe intermedius Rüppell, 1832 from the Nwanedi-Luphephe Dams in the Limpopo River System, South Africa

Abstract

The present study deals with the survey of endoparasites from Schilbe intermedius (silver catfish) at the Nwanedi-Luphephe Dams from July 2009 to May 2010. The hosts (n = 60) were collected using gill nets and examined for endoparasites. The following parasites were recorded: three species of trematodes, i.e. Clinostomum metacercariae in the body cavity (prevalence 40%), an unidentified adult digenean in the small intestine (prevalence 33.3%) and Diplostomum metacercariae from the eye (prevalence 1.7%), and two species of nematodes, i.e. Contracaecum larvae in the body cavity (prevalence 95%) and Paracamallanus cyathopharynx from the intestine (prevalence 63.3%). None of the fish examined during this study was in a notably poor state of health due to parasitism. Correlations between endoparasite infection and host size, as well as seasonal variation in their infection dynamics associated with environmental changes, were detected.

Key words: endoparasites, Limpopo Province, nematode, Schilbe intermedius, trematode.